Farmers expect loss from dry weather

In Adams County, dairy and crop farmer Kevin Holtzinger of East Berlin says his late corn is shorter and "fire burned" from sun.

The state Department of Environmental Protection declared a drought watch this week for 58 of the state's counties because of declining groundwater levels and stream flows. Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, York and Perry counties are included in the watch. Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, including Berks and Lancaster, are not.

Some midstate farmers said they are doing well, particularly fruit growers. But others expect to produce less corn, hay and alfalfa.

Dauphin County has an "agronomic drought which may not affect our overall groundwater but has affected our crops since April or May," Craig said. "We've had short moisture levels for the crops to grow."

"Hay yields probably will be 50 percent of normal," Craig said. "Corn and soybean harvests probably will be 40 to 60 percent of normal, and soybeans probably will be two-thirds of a crop. The only thing doing well is the insects."

Farmers have used the word "drought" for weeks, said Mark O'Neill, a Pennsylvania Farm Bureau spokesman.

"Corn is a major, major concern," he said. "People planted more corn because the prices were higher, and now it's not growing enough. That's a huge impact on Pennsylvania farmers. Alfalfa and hay is a problem too. It has been extremely dry all across the state."

The Farm Bureau lobbied for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make it easier for farmers to deal with losses due to drought conditions.

Normally, an insurance adjuster must inspect crops before a farmer is allowed to harvest early, but agents can now give such permission over the phone. It allows corn growers, for example, to cut their corn earlier and at least use it for animal feed. Otherwise, they would risk losing the corn while waiting for insurance agents to visit, which can take up to two weeks, O'Neill said.

"Drought conditions are causing crop losses on hundreds of farms across the state," said Carl T. Shaffer, the president of the farm bureau.

State Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff called this drought "spotty," adding that the prolonged heat complicates matters by taking additional moisture out of crops.

"The crops can look pretty good in the morning after a shower, then show stress and strain in the afternoon heat," he said. "We've had no fronts to give the entire state rain this summer. Instead, the state lives and dies by regional thundershowers."

Murray Laudenslager laughed when he heard that state officials declared a drought watch in most counties.

Laudenslager, who farms 1,300 acres with his brother, Karl, called their corn "better than good" but their hay crop only half of normal.

Tom Strite, whose family has a farm in Lower Swatara Twp., said he's surprised by the drought watch declaration. "I've seen it drier than this," he said.

He said rain "here and there" and irrigation from his farm's ponds are producing near-normal vegetables and fruit.

"The drier the season, the better tasting the fruit," he said. "This year, the fruit size doesn't seem to be off too much. We are a little concerned about the cucumbers, cantaloupes, pumpkins and melons. They wilt, then recover at night. The vegetables aren't a problem. Rain here and there helps."

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